New Delhi: The government has cut Maharashtra's sugar sales quota for May, while increasing it for Uttar Pradesh, according to a notification from the Department of Food and Public Distribution on Wednesday. The all-India quota for the month has been set at 2.35 million tonnes, unchanged from April, but nearly 13 per cent lower than the 2.70 million tonnes allocated a year ago.
In May last year, the government had set the sugar sale quota at a record 2.70 million tonnes to check prices because of severe heat waves and General Elections. Maharashtra's sales quota has been cut by 9.3 per cent on month to 730,305 tonnes in May. Meanwhile, the quota for Uttar Pradesh has been raised by 10.6 per cent to 926,634 tonnes, and Karnataka's reduced by 13.2 per cent to 281,240 tonnes.
The government fixes the maximum quantity of sugar available for sale every month to support prices and help mills clear the arrears of sugarcane farmers. Mills across the country had 2.35 million tonnes of sugar stock as of April end. The 2023-24 sugar season ended on Sept. 30 with a stock of 7.8 million tonnes.
The department has issued stringent guidelines to ensure compliance with monthly stockholding limits for sugar mills following repeated violations by certain groups and individual mills. The new measures, effective from Apr. 1, aim to enforce stricter penalties for non-compliance.
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If any group or individual sugar mill violates the stockholding limit orders and dispatches more than the prescribed release quota for a particular month, the excess quantity of sugar sold shall be deducted from the release quota for the subsequent month.
The following table details the state-wise allocation of sugar sales limits for May, with the month-ago level, and the month-on-month change in percentage:
States May(in tn) April (in tn) Change (%)
Andhra Pradesh 12,181 11,789 3.3
Bihar 60,060 63,913 -6.0
Chhattisgarh 3,526 8,081 -56.4
Gujarat 88,618 76,764 15.4
Haryana 50,866 48,095 5.8
Karnataka 281,240 323,955 -13.2
Madhya Pradesh 57,049 55,816 2.2
Maharashtra 730,305 805,256 -9.3
Odisha 2,528 2,159 17.1
Punjab 44,859 37,700 18.9
Rajasthan 1,328 934 42.2
Tamil Nadu 47,038 35,927 30.9
Telangana 5,260 8,646 -39.2
Uttar Pradesh 926,634 837,746 10.6
Uttarakhand 38,508 33,219 15.9
Total 2,350,000 2,350,000.
